Stolas' Future Character Arc

I want to talk about a kind of troubling reaction I've been seeing to both Apology Tour and Ghostfuckers among parts of the fandom. The person is usually a reaction youtuber but sometimes someone writing on tumblr or twitter. They say something along the lines of "oh, I'm glad Blitz is being forced to confront his crimes/traumas/pain. This is the only way he will finally heal."

That's not how healing works.

I know that reaction youtubers don't always have the most developed takes because they're . . . you know . . . reacting in the moment. But I think it's still worth talking about.

I'm going set aside the people who seem to believe that Blitz needs to be punished for his crimes, and address those who genuinely think that getting a tidal wave of his own trauma in his face is what he needs to heal.

There's an attitude in contemporary culture that traumas are something people need to confront. As in, put on a brave face and dive in like a big boy. I blame capitalism, rugged individualism, and all the pieces of media that tie up a character's arc neatly by having them confront their darkest fears and insecurities. It can put a nice bow on things, but it isn't really how healing from trauma works.

Apology Tour:

Blitz gets confronted by a shit ton of people who hate him, at least some of whom are his exes, who he feels he's personally damaged. The decor and party games are all about killing and torturing him. Verosika confronts him about how much he hurt her. Oh, and then he sees the love of his life, who he's just recently pushed away, making out with another guy- proof, in his eyes, that Stolas is happier without him. And this all reflects the underlying fears he already has about who he is as a person (shown to us by Truth Seekers).

So what was the takeaway? Blitz came to the conclusion that he doesn't always want to be like this (good, but like . . . worth this much pain?). He flops on his steering wheel (relatable). He stops trying to reach out to Stolas (uh oh . . . ). He spends A MONTH spiraling in his own misery and making a mess of all aspects of his life until he's dragged out of it by a caring friend.

The party doesn't empower Blitz to change. It knocks him down and fucking traumatizes him (seriously, images of Stolas from the party show up later in his trauma reel) too much for him to be able to do actually work toward said change. I suspect that if left to his own devices, he would have kept spiraling for quite a while longer. It's one thing to want to change, and another to try to do so alone in the aftermath of a pile-on.

Ghostfuckers

After Blitz drags himself out of his hole of cheesy ice cream and despair to "play sex ghosts" (escapism, again, still knocked down by Apology Tour), infester demon Rolando picks him out as an easy target and assaults him, yes, assaults, with horrific images of his worst traumas and fears.

Not to state the obvious, but Rolando isn't interested in helping Blitz heal. He's trying to kill the guy. He wants to engulf Blitz in his trauma to the extent where he's consumed by it and loses the will to fight back. And as some excellent posts by others have pointed out already, he very likely would have succumbed if not for Millie's support.

Millie helps Blitz get through the onslaught by telling him about what makes him great and how he's improved her life and showing him love and care. And by literally beating the fucking infester out of him. Because there's someone in him who's hurting him, who's re-traumatizing him against his will. She takes him away from the reel of horrible memories.

So . . . do I think that confronting traumas can play a role in healing? Sure. But only if it's consensually (which neither of these situations are) and when the person trying to heal is ready. And most likely in small doses. No one's going and successfully confronting every horrible thing that's ever happened to them in one go.

And in my humble opinion, it's not going to work (for anyone, but especially not for Blitz) alone and without a healthy dose of kindness and compassion (both external and internal).

Blitz has a long road ahead of him toward healing, and it's going to be hard work on his part but also require love and support from the people in his life.

In a wonderful moment near the end of Ghosfuckers, Blitz and Millie work together to get Blitz's wrecked van unstuck and push it back through the portal into Hell. I love it because it's so simple and it kind of tells us everything we need to know. This sweet and salty gremlin has a lot of work ahead of him, but he doesn't have to do it alone.

The thing with the crossed out pictures is like. It’s such a SPECIFIC way to portray Blitz’s self hatred. It’s not really unusual for media to show negative self worth through photos, but often it’ll be a character who insists on always staying behind the camera, or hides and won’t smile in pictures.

Blitz isn’t like that at all. He initiates selfies with his loved ones, grinning and putting his arm around them and having the time of his life. He prints them out, finds a nice frame and dedicates time to hang them from the wall of his apartment—all for himself, because there’s no reason anyone would have asked him to. He spends time on this.

And then, when he’s alone, he gets the Self Harm Itch. The urge to scribble himself out because he needs to do SOMETHING. He doesn’t cut the pictures, or throw them away, to remove himself entirely. He needs them up there, and WANTS to be there with them. But in those moments, he can’t believe he’s worthy of it, can’t stand to see his own face. And then he’s left with the consequences.

And all of this is just shown through images in the background! He’s never even brought it up but we can see it! We know! It drives me insane (positive)

Blitz:

Stolas, Loona, Millie, Moxxie, Fizz:

One day, Blitz will see that he's not a nuisance to those around him who leaves nothing but suffering in his wake. One day, he will believe them when they say that they love him and that he saved them. One day, he will see that instead of being a burden, he has given them a community.

They're all, in their own ways, telling him, "Get loved, idiot. Get fucking cherished and adored, loser." And one day, he'll even realize that yes, he is worthy of such love and devotion.

I just noticed that Blitzø has a set of horse shaped silverware! I freakin love this dork.

It's not a complete role reversal...

People are treating what happened at Sinsmas as a complete role reversal between Stolas and Blitz, where Blitz is going to be the one chasing after Stolas, and Stolas pushing his advances away...

When the situation is a bit more nuanced than that...

Blitz and Stolas both don't have their masks up

The reason why Stolas had such a hard time in the season was because he had to take down those impenetrable walls Blitz put around himself. In that same vein, Stolas also had these walls up when he communicated with Blitz as well.

By the end of the season finale, those walls are down and these gentlemen are able to speak to each other face to face without keeping up a facade.

Blitz and Stolas are together 24/7 now

The reason why it was difficult for them to communicate before was because they were operating under the terms of their transactional agreement where their only excuse to meeting each other was during the nights of the full moon.

However, by the end of the season, both characters live and work together.

Blitz and Stolas have wildly different problems they have to overcome

Blitz, before, was not in the right headspace to give or receive love because he was still under the belief that his love hurts people and that he didn't deserve to be loved. Remember, one botched love confession literally mutilated his best friend, killed his mom, and destroyed the lives of his entire circus family.

The reason why Stolas isn't in the right headspace to give or receive love is because he's still processing his new way of life as a commoner, and the fact that his daughter doesn't want to see him. If anything, the main obstacle keeping these bozos apart now is Octavia.

Blitz and Stolas do love each other

Despite all the bullshit these men have put each other through, they both do genuinely have feelings for each other. However, Blitz knows that what Stolas needs right now isn't his love, but his support. And Blitz is happy with that because the only thing he wants to do right now is be there for Stolas.

When Blitz lost everything in the circus fire, he was alone with nobody to help him and guide him. However, when Stolas lost everything during the trial, he wasn't alone because Blitz was there to pick him back up.

Blitz doesn't know how to give up

While it is true that Stolas shuts Blitz out at this moment, Blitz doesn't give up and use that as a sign of rejection.

Instead, Blitz improvises by inviting Stolas to dance, and Stolas reciprocates.

If Stolas didn't want to dance with Blitz, he didn't have to, he could have just as easily shooed him away but he didn't. In fact, Stolas looks so happy to be invited to dance.

Blitz has this knack for getting Stolas to laugh, even in his most darkest days... so that helps too.

Blitz has a goal now

This is Blitz's endgame, his goal. Blitz wants to be at a place where he and Stolas could be happy and healthy, and live a life with their daughters by their side. He wants this, and Blitz is going to operate in a way to achieve it.

Because that is who Blitz is...

He is a tenacious bastard that doesn't know how to give up. He wanted to be his own boss, so he opened a business. He wanted an easy way to get to earth, so he fucked a Prince. He wanted a family, so he made his own eclectic one.

Blitz, despite the fact that he can be a complete asshole and an idiot, usually has a way of getting what he wants in the end.

Something that has always stood out to me (and got me thinking) IRT Blitzø and his true nature underneath all of his sharp edges is this specific scene in Oops:

Here, Blitz is very, VERY badly burnt. Enough to be permanently disfiguring on at least a third of his body. Yeah, Fizz had it worse, but this is still awful and was probably horrifically painful. But he barely seems affected, because his only concern is his mom. We as the audience can't hear what he's saying, but he's clearly calling out to her in this flashback.

Blitz could easily, and understandably, put himself first here. But he doesn't. And it says a lot about him. Take this with several other standout moments in (and upcoming!) the show...

...and you get a really good picture that one of Blitz's core traits is how protective he is of those he loves. A lot of the fandom writes him off as nothing but a selfish asshole that doesn't give a shit about anyone but himself. And as sad and uncharitable as that read of him is, it's also kind of funny because if you actually watch the show it's obviously not the case at all.

Blitz values and is very protective of his loved ones, and if you can't see that you're blind or purposefully ignoring moments like this.

New Fear Discovered

So, as we all know, Andrealphus has taken everything from Stolas at this point. His title. His palace. Heck, even his imp staff “belong” to Andrealphus now. Everything that has ever belonged to or meant anything to Stolas has been taken by Andrealphus (and Stella) and either destroyed or been changed beyond recognition.

And then I remembered:

Imp. Of. MINE.

Stolas claimed, in front of an ENTIRE courtroom full of royal demons, that Blitzø was his imp. And we know all too well how royal demons see imps.

Andrealphus could claim that Blitzø belongs to him now after Stolas’ banishment. And the courts of Hell will back him!

Sigh

Hi I’m back to explain media to the antis

Stolas is grateful for everything Blitz is doing for him but because that’s not blatantly expressed people are whining that Stolas is being ungrateful and mean

Maybe yall just haven’t experienced hard things like for example when my parents died I didn’t exactly thank my husband outwardly for all he was doing for me I was a lot like Stolas, numb and upset and just in autopilot. It doesn’t mean I wasn’t grateful for him being there and helping me.

Blitz isn’t doing it to be thanked, he’s doing it because he loves Stolas and wants to take care of him. Stolas doesn’t need to gush in gratitude, it’s understood.

It’s implied.

It’s what happens when you love each other.

I am trying desperately to figure out why parts of this fandom WANT a Stolas/Blitz/Vassago love triangle.

First of all, I thought we as a society have agreed that the love triangle trope is one of the worst romance tropes out there and that we’re all ready to retire it.

Second of all, it would be such a fundamental betrayal of both Stolas’s and Blitz’s character journeys for that to happen. Stolas would roll back his progress in making choices for himself and owning up to his mistakes, and Blitz would have every dooming fear he had about love validated and he’d shut down again.

Even if it’s just coming from the perspective of loving Stolas and thinking he can do better than Blitz, making Stolas even CONSIDER something romantic with Vassago, after everything he and Blitz went through, would be such an audacious display of character assassination.

And even if you don’t care about the characters, with all the other conflict going on, throwing a love triangle in there would just make the story bloated and irritating.

No matter how you look at it, adding a love triangle would be a dooming decision for the show.

I could understand the sentiment of Stolas and Vassago being a possible thing if we're referring to Apology Tour Blitz.

Back in Apology Tour, Blitz in no way was ready for a relationship and no matter how hard he tried to put that mask down, he wasn't able to open up completely without looking pained.

However, Sinsmas Blitz is genuinely the very best version of Blitz there is (so far).

Attentive

Caring

Fun-loving

Caretaker

Protective

Patient

Happy Cuddly Lizard 🦎

Suave and Romantic

And this version of Blitz is only able to exist because of the intensive character growth he went through in Apology Tour, Ghostfuckers, and Mastermind.

But the main reason why this Blitz is able to exist right now is because he has completely opened up his heart and soul to Stolas, and knows that without a doubt that he is genuinely loved by him (Stolas), Millie, Moxxie, and Loona.

Of course, Blitz has some more character growth to do, but right now, he's at much more healthier mindset than he ever was, and that's a miracle.

Stolas, right now, needs help and assistance and has some growing to do. And Blitz sees that and knows that. There is no better person to care for Stolas right now than Sinsmas Blitz.

I know Stolas is confused, lost, depressed, and is in desperate need of his antidepressants; but he is going to be fine as long as he is able to grow and adjust to his new way of life.

Right now, the man is now dealing with the fallout of every wrong thing he has ever done in the course of the series in genuinely the most fucked up way possible. Actions have consequences, and Stolas is now learning the gravity of that.

But I'm going to be blunt, the man made his bed, and now he only has Blitz. They don't owe each other a relationship, but if Blitz is giving 110% of his love and devotion to Stolas, and Stolas repays him by literally going, "I am now magically in love with Vassago who I have never had a fucking conversation with once in the entirety of two seasons."

That is going to ruin Stolas' character for a lot of people, and that is going to break Blitz in a way I fear he won't ever be able to recover.

Also, these guys are endgame. You can't get anymore endgame than the gayest- cheesiest Disney duet in the universe.

HELLUVA BOSS Truth Seekers | 1.06